Heartland Season 16 Episode 11 Recap

After a month-long winter break, a new episode of Heartland is finally here. And it provided a resolution to the cliffhanger that the previous episode left us on while also moving the story forward.

Want to know exactly what happened?

Then keep on reading this recap of Heartland season 16 episode 11.

Is Jack okay?

Luckily, Heartland didn’t drag out this cliffhanger because, right off the bat, the show let us know that although Jack did break 8 ribs in the accident, he’s alive and coming home from the hospital that day.

Lou and Amy were not happy that Jack was coming home so soon after an injury this severe. However, later in the episode, we found out that the reason Jack is coming home so soon is that he made a deal with Lisa.

As you might imagine, Jack is not an easy patient. He’s fiercely independent and doesn’t like to be fussed over or coddled. So, being laid up in a hospital bed was not easy for him. 

Being his wife, Lisa, of course, knew this and therefore agreed to bring Jack home early, even against the doctor’s recommendations, in exchange for Jack promising to rest at home.

Yet, that’s easier said than done. More than once Lisa, Lou, and other family members had to remind Jack to let go of the reins and rest while they took care of him and took over some of Jack’s responsibilities.

For example, Amy did all the chores in the barn. While Lisa rode out to meet Gary Walker, a cattle buyer interested in buying the late calvers from Heartland Beef, instead of Tim who was out hunting for Mike (more on that later). And what do you know, everything got done while Jack healed up.

Lisa, being the fierce businesswoman that she is, even negotiated a better deal than what Jack had talked about with Gary after the man tried to pull a fast one on Lisa just because she’s a woman.

And although Jack’s healing progress was slow, by the end of the episode he was already moving around a little. Which, hopefully, means that over the course of the next episodes, we will see Jack fully healed and back to his old self.

Finding Mike

Speaking of Jack’s injuries, Tim spent Heartland season 16 episode 11 tracking down Mike so he could make the man pay for what he did to Jack. And he took Caleb along for the ride.

Right from the start of the episode, we saw that Tim is not happy with the progress that the police have made when it comes to finding Mike. So, he decided to take it upon himself to get the job done.

After Jack was safely home, Tim called up Caleb and asked him to help Tim track down Mike.

Seeing how fired up Tim is, Caleb was reluctant to agree to help Tim. However, after Tim promised that he’s going to take Tim to the police when they find him instead of dealing with the man himself, Caleb was in.

The first order of business was to search all the nearby RV parks for Mike’s RV because The Beast was hard to miss. And it paid off. Caleb spoke to the manager of an RV park just outside Hudson who told Caleb that there is an RV matching The Beast’s description.

However, when Tim and Caleb got to the park and knocked on the RV’s door, the person who answered was not Mike.

It turned out that Mike had sold his RV for cheap to a young man looking for an RV for a cross-country trip. The only silver lining in this situation was that Mike wasn’t the cleanliest, which meant that he had left a lot of garbage in the RV. So after Tim paid the kid 100 dollars, he let Caleb and Tim look through those garbage bags. 

After some digging, they found quite a few receipts from one bar. Knowing that Mike is a creature of habit, Tim had a feeling that they were going to find Mike at that bar. And Tim was right.

The two cowboys headed to the bar to find Mike. Yet the closer they got to tracking Mike down, the uneasier Caleb got.

Caleb was afraid of what Tim might do to Mike once they did find him, so once they got to the bar Mike frequented to wait for him, Caleb called somebody and told them where they were and that Tim is really scaring him this time.

And as it turned out, Caleb had called Jack. Because just as Mike showed up and Tim grabbed him to make Mike pay for what he did, Jack showed up and talked Tim down.

Luckily, Jack’s words stuck, because instead of beating Mike up or worse, Tim got Mike into his truck and started driving to the police station.

But on the way there, Mike started talking about the good old days.

Although at first, Tim wasn’t having any of it, eventually something clicked in Tim. The two men finally talked about what happened after Mike’s accident and Tim realized that Mike just wants what he has – a family.

So, instead of dropping Mike off at the police station, Tim drove him to the bus stop, truly apologized to Mike for the accident and for cutting Mike out of his life, handed him some money, and told Mike to go see his estranged sister in Winnipeg. Because, despite what Mike might think, he does have a family, and maybe it’s time to reconnect with said family.

And after a brief moment of terror when Tim replied that Mike is in a better place after Jack and Lisa asked about what Tim did with Mike once Tim got back to the ranch, they laughed about Winnipeg winter being punishment enough for Mike and spend some time together enjoying Jack being home.

That’s no way to live

Another storyline that was resolved in this episode that carried over from episode 1609 was Amy and Jack’s fight about Finn Cotter.

If you remember, in episode 9 of this season we saw Jack confront Amy about her getting close to Finn, and the two got into a bad fight about Jack not trusting Amy’s instincts and him not wanting Amy to get hurt by a Cotter.

The two still were barely speaking in episode 1610 which made the accident that much more traumatic for Amy. After all, if she had lost Jack that day, she would never have had the opportunity to talk out their issues and make up.

And even early in this episode, after Jack got home from the hospital, there was still tension between the two. But luckily, the two finally talked after Amy spoke to Logan about almost losing Jack.

Amy admitted that she should have handled the conversation in episode 9 better while also telling Jack how he made her feel when he was telling her about Finn not being a good man.

Jack, of course, apologized. And after Amy’s prompting, he finally told her about his history with Finn’s grandfather Al.

Jack told Amy how Al betrayed Jack by pursuing Jack’s late wife Lyndy and then lied about it and blamed it all on Lyndy. And when Amy asked what he did about it, Jack admitted that he had threatened Al, which ended their friendship.

So, Amy finally understood why Jack acted the way he did when he found out about her and Finn.

And when Jack asked Amy about Finn, this time without any judgment, she told him how it’s over.

Jack, of course, was sympathetic but only later in the episode, after he had time to mull it over, he revisited their conversation and reassured Amy that mistakes happen and encouraged her to not close off her heart because Finn broke it.

It was a truly beautiful resolution to an episodes-long fight that at times seemed like it would make or break the close-knit relationship between Jack and Amy.

And I think that it also propelled Amy’s healing journey forward. Because, at the end of the episode we saw Amy briefly take off her wedding rings and then put them right back on seemingly signaling that although she isn’t ready to move on from Ty just yet, she’s taking slow and steady steps toward healing.

Which means that we probably won’t see Amy truly move on with someone else this season. But, should we get season 17 and beyond (fingers crossed!), maybe then she will find the right person and be ready to open her heart back up.

Taking the lead

Now onto lighter things, the horse-centric storyline of Heartland season 16 episode 11 had to do with Sherri Wild, the legendary barrel racer whose barrel racing school Caleb and Tim bought back in episode 1608.

Sherri called Amy to go see a horse at Hillhurst Stables. Apparently, Sherri recently bought a new horse, Journey, for her granddaughter Miley to train in dressage. And although the horse was perfect the first two times Miley rode him, now Journey was acting up and tossing his head. So Sherri enlisted Amy’s help in hopes that Amy could figure out what was wrong with Journey.

Logan being infatuated with Miley from the moment he saw her asked Amy if he could take the lead this time. And since Amy already had a lot of other client horses and had extra chores while Jack was laid up, she eventually agreed.

Logan’s first order of business was to switch Journey’s bit to a bosal. And although Amy wasn’t convinced that that was the problem, she let Logan do his thing and figure it out for himself if that’s really the problem.

And it became clear early on that it wasn’t the problem.

Logan became a bit discouraged, especially after Miley became stressed about the lack of progress and had to take a break. After all, part of the reason why Logan wanted to take the lead with Journey was to impress Miley. But Amy was there to help lead Logan on the right path by telling him that maybe Journey wasn’t the problem here and that he should go talk to Miley and find out more about her.

Taking Amy up on her advice, Logan caught up to Miley and Miley told Logan how she was a barrel racer before she took up dressage.

Yet, as soon as Logan asked her whether it was hard to go from rodeo royalty to dressage, Miley became tense and Journey acted up again. So, Logan finally saw past his crush on Miley and started figuring out that maybe Miley really was the problem here.

He suggested that instead of training harder, maybe Miley and Journey needed to have some fun.

Amy liked the idea because she already had a hunch that Miley’s feelings were to blame for Journey’s misbehavior. So they set up some poles and asked Miley to try to get Journey to follow her around them.

At first, Miley had some difficulties relaxing and letting go but eventually, she managed to do so and suddenly Journey was all carefree and working in tandem with Miley. Yet, once Miley got on Journey again, all the progress seemed to have been lost. Journey even threw Miley off his back.

Seeing this, Amy and Logan rushed to Miley’s side. Amy told Logan and Miley that she saw fear in Journey which is why he reared. Which got Miley even more worked up. So, Amy told the young woman to take a break and get cleaned up. And when Miley got back to Journey, Amy followed her hunch and asked Logan to ride Journey instead.

And it was like Journey was a different horse – all relaxed and smooth. So both Miley and Logan finally realized what Amy had been seeing for a while now – that Journey isn’t the problem, Miley is.

The three of them talked in the barn after and Amy finally helped Miley figure out what the problem was – that she hates being compared to her grandmother.

Every time Miley gets on Journey she tenses up because she’s trying to be someone she’s not which the horse interprets as danger. And the horse tossing his head is Journey’s way of telling Miley that something’s wrong.

Therefore, after Logan and Amy’s encouragement, Miley finally talked to her grandma and told Sherri that she wants to quit dressage and instead compete in barrel racing under her real name – Miley Evans. And Sherri was more than encouraging – she told Miley that she’s proud of her for blazing her own path.

So, at the end of the episode, we saw Miley get back to running barrels and even agree to coach Lyndy in barrel racing.

And we even saw a nice little moment between Logan and Amy.

This storyline was as much about Amy letting Logan take the lead as it was about Logan helping Miley. Therefore, Logan reflecting on the experience and telling Amy about how he feels the pressure to live up to Amy’s expectations, and Amy telling him how it’s not pressure, it’s a safety net, was a truly needed moment and just showcased how nice their relationship is.

Spending time together 

Lastly, the final storyline of the episode was all about Lou and Katie because in this episode we also saw Lou trying to reconnect with her younger daughter which did not go smoothly.

For a while now we’ve seen the tumultuous relationship between Katie and Lou. One moment they’re good while the next they aren’t anymore. And although I hoped that this would be resolved by now, this episode showed how there are still problems when it comes to the mother-daughter relationship.

Early in this episode, we saw Lou ask Katie to go for lunch and make a girls’ afternoon out of it. Lou thought that it was a great idea to get out of the house and practice a bit of self-care, what with everything that happened with Jack. However, Katie declined Lou’s offer saying that she has homework to do.

That put Lou off a little but she decided to give her daughter her space.

Yet, when Lou saw Katie acting all weird after witnessing Logan and Miley hugging (confirming that Katie was, indeed crushing on Logan), Lou decided to bring the mother-daughter date to Katie.

Lou poured some sparkling grape juice into champagne glasses and set up for manis and pedis. And although at first, Katie was unsure about the whole thing, she reluctantly agreed to spend some quality time with Lou, later even admitting that it was a nice idea.

And everything was going well until Lou mentioned how Katie seems a little stressed, maybe because of a crush on Logan… And Katie closed off again.

You could clearly see that all Lou wanted to do was be there for her teenage daughter and help her through a difficult time. But Katie interpreted it as prying and blamed it all on Lou reading her journal (which we saw in episode 1607). 

And at the end of the episode, we saw Katie sobbing in her bed while Lou was knocking on her door and asking to talk.

READ NEXT: Heartland season 16 episode 12 recap

I sure hope that this tension between Katie and Lou is resolved soon. Because I hate seeing both of the characters hurting and I would much rather be seeing them happy and being in their elements.

Last thoughts on Heartland season 16 episode 11

Now that we know for sure that we will see Alisha Newton back as Georgie in at least one episode this season (episode 1614), it was so nice to hear Katie and Lou talk about how Georgie is doing.

Apparently, Georgie’s made a full recovery and is back training because she has a show coming up.

I wonder if this jumping show reference and the fact that Lou told Katie that she wished she had both of her daughters there is slowly setting up for Georgie’s return. It will definitely be a treat to have Georgie back at the ranch.

Promo for Heartland season 16 episode 12

And here’s the promo for the next episode of Heartland:

Heartland season 16 episode 12, titled “Memory”, will air on January 15th and it will see a surprise visitor (I’m guessing the woman who opened Finn’s door in Kindersley in episode 1610) coming to the ranch which will cause Amy to view Finn differently. While Jack will be taking a weekend trip to the cabin where he will be struggling with his past. Katie will finally open up. And Lou and Peter will be hosting a dinner party that will not go as planned.